


How not to Bee a hero

by Child_of_the_Fae



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-08-30 18:26:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8544322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Child_of_the_Fae/pseuds/Child_of_the_Fae
Summary: “Ladybug, I…” Queen Bee started.“Save it! I don’t want to ever see your face again.” Ladybug scowled.“If you’re smart, you’ll turn your Miraculous over to someone more deserving.” Chat told her.Chloe becomes Queen Bee, but after a while she decides she isn't getting enough recognition. So, she decides to do something bad to boost her popularity, but it blows up in her face and causes her to lose everything.





	1. Not the hero you were expecting

Master Fu walked through the streets of Paris, very aware of the small box containing a valuable object in his pocket, and keeping an eye out for his target. Fu had noticed that Hawkmoth’s Akumas were getting stronger, he was obviously beginning to tap into power Nooroo had previously been able to keep from him, and Ladybug and Chat Noir were beginning to struggle. So, Fu had decided to choose another Miraculous wielder to help in the fight against Hawkmoth.

The girl Fu was currently on his way to test was admittedly a bit of a gamble, she was kind, extremely helpful, and a very hard worker, all good qualities for the Miraculous he was giving. The problem was that the girl also had social and confidence issues and was basically a lackey to a rather rude and selfish girl who threw her status around like it was going out of style. The girl could possibly dismiss the Miraculous because of her subservient nature, but the Miraculous could also give her the confidence needed to become her own person and a strong hero.

Fu found his chosen girl near College Francoise Dupont along with her ‘friend’, he then began to formulate a how to test her. Once he was near enough to her he took out a watch and dropped it on the ground, he then made a show of trying to pick it up but being able to while holding his back.

“Oh, my back.” He groaned for emphasis.

Sabrina was waiting beside Chloe, the blond on the phone to someone, when she noticed an old man struggling to pick up a watch he had dropped, and holding his back in pain. Sabrina looked back at Chloe and saw that she was still absorbed in her conversation. Sure that Chloe wouldn’t be needing her, Sabrina went over to the old man to help.

“Here you go.” Sabrina said, handing the man his watch.

“Thank you, dear.” The old man said, taking it. “You are kind.”

“Sabrina!” Chloe called, having noticed her lackey’s disappearance.

“Coming, Chloe!” Sabrina called back.

As Sabrina turned around and headed back to Chloe, she didn’t notice the old man slip something into her bag.

* * *

 

The first half of the college day progressed as normal, with Sabrina taking notes for Chloe like usual. But when the bell rang Sabrina put her bag on her desk, and as she leant over to pick up Chloe’s bag as well, her own fell over and some of the things inside fell out onto the desk.

Chloe ignored her ‘friend’s’ clumsiness, but then her eyes caught something that had fallen out of Sabrina’s bag.

“Where’d you get this?” Chloe asked Sabrina, picking up a small, hexagonal, ornate box.

Sabrina looked at the object Chloe was holding in confusion.

“I’ve never seen that before.” She said. “It wasn’t in my bag before.”

“Then how’d it end up in your bag?” Chloe questioned her.

“Someone must have put it there.”

“Who would give you this. It looks a bit too fancy to be something someone would give you.”

Sabrina did her best to ignore Chloe’s unintentional jab at her.

“Maybe someone thought my bag was you bag, since I carry yours around a lot.” Sabrina suggested. “Not that I’m complaining.” She added, worried Chloe would get angry.

Chloe hummed thoughtfully. “Likely.” She said. “Yes, this was intended for me. But I wonder who it’s from.”

Sabrina couldn’t think of anyone, the only person who might of done something like this was Kim, and he had quickly gotten over his feelings for Chloe after being Akumatised because of her.

“I bet it’s from Adrien.” Chloe said with an excited gasp. “Who else could afford something in a box like this?”

Chloe was about to open the box when a reminder of Sabrina’s phone went off.

“Chloe, you’ve got your hair appointment.” Sabrina reminded Chloe.

Chloe gasped, she shoved the box into her bag and hurried out the door to her hair appointment.

* * *

 

When Chloe returned home that evening, after college had finished for the day, she suddenly remembered the small box inside her bag.

“I wonder what’s inside.” Chloe wondered as she opened the box.

When Chloe opened the box, she got a brief glimpse of a bee-shaped hair comb sitting inside before being blinded by a yellow orb of light.

Chloe dropped the box and took a few steps back away from the light.

The light then faded away to reveal a small, humanoid, bee-like creature. It blinked a few times, waking up, and then looked at Chloe with a smile.

“Hello.” It said with a high-pitched voice.

Chloe then began screaming.

“A bee! A big bee!” She screamed.

Chloe fell to her butt and crawled backwards away from the bee-creature.

“Please stop screaming, I’m not going to hurt you.” It said.

Chloe wasn’t listening and began throwing any object in reach at the creature, which was mostly make-up. But she eventually ran out of ammo and was too afraid to try and run past the creature, leaving her cornered.

“Are you finally going to listen?” The creature asked.

The creature decided to take her silence as a yes.

“Let me introduce myself, I am Philla.” The creature said. “I am a Kwami. And I am going to help you, Sabrina, become-”

“I’m not Sabrina.” Chloe interrupted Philla.

Being mistaken for someone else had snapped Chloe out of her fear.

“You’re not?” Philla asked, confused.

“Of course not, I’m Chloe.”

“But I’m sure I was told the girl I was getting was called Sabrina.”

“You mean, that box really was for Sabrina?”

“You took it from her?” Philla accused.

“We thought it was for me and given to her by mistake.” Chloe excused herself.

Philla sighed. “Well, I was meant to be for Sabrina. So, if I go back inside the Miraculous, can you give it to her instead.”

“Fine, I’d much rather believe this whole thing was a dream anyway.” Chloe agreed.

Chloe then registered what Philla had said.

“Did you say, Miraculous?” She asked, picking up the box with the comb in it, the comb now completely silver. “Like Ladybug and Chat Noir’s?”

“Yes.”

“And the Miraculous give powers like theirs, correct?” Chloe began to get more exited.

“Yes.” Philla said causiously, regretting letting the word ‘Miraculous’ slip.

“Actually, I think I’ll hang on to this.” Chloe said, taking the comb out of the box.

“No, it is meant for Sabrina.” Philla said.

“But with this I could become a hero like Ladybug and fight alongside her.” Chloe said.

“It’s still not meant to be yours.”

Chloe began to get angry, the Miraculous should be hers, she had it right now and she knew she would be a better hero than Sabrina. So, why shouldn’t it be hers?

“Okay.” Chloe said. “I’ll bring Sabrina over, and she’ll tell you that I should have the Miraculous.”

“Fine by me.” Philla said, folding her tiny arms with a huff.

Chloe called Sabrina, telling her to come over. Not even ten minutes later Sabrina was there.

Sabrina then spotted Philla.

She didn’t have a freak out like Chloe, but she did go wide-eyed and place herself in front of Chloe as if to protect her.

“Chloe, there’s a big bug in your room.” Sabrina said quietly.

“I know.” Chloe said. “But she doesn’t seem to do anything.”

“I guess that’s good.” Sabrina relaxed, if Chloe said it was safe she believed it was safe.

“Now, I want you to tell Philla that I should have this.” Chloe said, holding up the comb.

“Uh, Philla, Chloe should have that comb.” Sabrina said, not understanding anything.

“See?” Chloe said to Philla.

“She can’t exactly give consent if she doesn’t know the full situation.” Philla said with an unimpressed look.

“What don’t I understand?” Sabrina asked.

“The comb Chloe is holding is a Miraculous, which I am able to use to grant the wearer special powers to turn into a hero. Like your heroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir. I was given to you because you show potential to be a hero, but I ended up with Chloe instead.” Philla said the last part unhappily.

“But you know I’d be a much better with the Miraculous don’t you, Sabrina?” Chloe asked confidently.

“The Miraculous was given to you, Sabrina.” Philla told her, urgingly.

“I, uh.” Sabrina said unsurely.

Becoming an actual hero sounded appealing to Sabrina, but Chloe was her friend and really wanted the Miraculous, and if she didn’t agree it could hurt their friendship.

“Maybe you could give Chloe a chance.” Sabrina said to Philla.

Philla sighed in defeat, Master Fu had warned her about Sabrina’s loyalty to Chloe.

“Yes!” Chloe said happily. “You’re the greatest friend ever.”

In a rare display of actual compassion, Chloe hugged Sabrina in her joy.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you something else to put in your hair instead.” Chloe told Sabrina. “Your hair’s too short for the comb anyway.”

“Thank you, Chloe.” Sabrina said happily.

“I told you Sabrina would agree.” Chloe said to Philla.

“Fine, just put the comb in, Kwamis can only dwell outside of their Miraculouses without them being worn by someone for so long.” Philla said.

Chloe went over to her mirror and removed the tie keeping her hair in its usual ponytail, she then redid her hair but with the comb keeping her ponytail in place instead.

“So,” Chloe said excitedly. “How can I get this to make me a hero?”

“Just say, Sting Sharp.” Philla told her. “But before that-”

“Sting Sharp!” Chloe repeated, cutting off the Kwami.

With a suffering sigh, Philla was sucked into the comb and it regained its original colours, Chloe was then bathed in yellow light that sort of looked and felt like petals. When the light was gone, Chloe stood there in her new form.

Chloe wore a yellow suit with black stripes around the torso, a big one going over her chest, her arms were black to mid-arm with yellow fingers, her legs were black to just over the knee with some more black stripes covering the rest of her legs, with the heels and toes of her feet in yellow, and she wore a yellow and black mask that pointed over her nose and was yellow around the eyes and at the top. Around her waist she wore a hip purse with a black string strap and a circular yellow and black purse.

Chloe gasped as she looked over herself and ran to her mirror to admire herself in it, turning to look at herself at all angles.

“You look stunning.” Sabrina told her.

“I do, don’t I?” Chloe said happily.

Chloe then frowned when she looked at her back.

“No wings?” She commented.

“Well, Ladybug doesn’t have wings.” Sabrina pointed out.

“I suppose.” Chloe said. “But Ladybug gets around with her yoyo, so what’s my weapon?”

Chloe grabbed her hip purse and managed to open it, inside she found a yellow and black, cone-shaped object with string wrapped around it.

“What’s this?” Chloe asked, looking the object over.

“Um.” Sabrina took out her phone and began searching, she quickly found a result. “It’s a trompo, a string-pulled spinning top.” She told Chloe.

“A spinning top?” Chloe questioned it being a weapon. “Well, I guess Ladybug has a yoyo for her weapon. How do I use it?”

Sabrina opened up a video showing how to use a trompo as well as various tricks to do with it, showing it to Chloe.

“Okay, let’s see.” Chloe said.

Chloe held the string like shown in the video and then threw the trompo at the floor. For a few seconds it seemed like it was going to fall over, but it gained balance and began spinning across the floor.

“Yes.” Chloe said at being able to do it. “But it doesn’t look very damaging.”

The trompo then spun towards the small bench at the foot of Chloe’s bed, but instead of falling over or being knocked away, it was instead the bench that got knocked away.

“I guess it does do something after all.” Chloe said. “Still not much.”

“Maybe it’s the intend behind the throw.” Sabrina theorised.

“Yes, I knew that.” Chloe lied. “That’s why I didn’t throw it hard, I didn’t want it to trash my room. But pick it up before it does any more damage, Sabrina.”

Sabrina went to pick it up, but it wouldn’t stop spinning, causing her to yank her hand away.

“I can’t.” She said.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Do I have to do everything?”

Chloe went over to the trompo and crouched down to look at it, wondering how she would be able to pick up her weapon. Remembering a trick she saw on the video, even though it was meant for experienced spinners, she put the end of the rope at the bottom of the spinner. Her eyes widened as the trompo seemed to wrap the rope around itself and smack into her palm, having finally stopped spinning.

“Well, that certainly saves time.” Chloe said, grateful she wouldn’t have to waste time wrapping up her trompo every time she wanted to use it.

Chloe released the trompo again and repeated the move with the same results.

“Okay, how do I turn back?” Chloe questioned.

Chloe eventually managed to de-transform through force of will.

“Finally.” Chloe said. “I was ready to yank the comb out.”

“Well, if you had given me time to explain everything.” Philla said. “Next time, just say ‘Sting Sheathed’ to de-transform, it’s easier.”

“Okay. But what else can I do?” Chloe asked. “Ladybug and Chat Noir get special powers. What about me?”

“Bees symbolise many things, and one of those is community, bees work together as one for the good of the hive. When you spin your trompo on your hand and call out ‘Queen’s Call’, a swarm of bees will emerge that you can control and communicate with, they are not real bee though and they will disappear when your Miraculous runs out.” Philla said.

“My power is to summon bees?” Chloe questioned, she had been hoping for a better power.

“Yes, they will follow your commands and if you want you can see and hear what they do. It’s good for when you’re trying to find someone.”

“I suppose it’s something.” Chloe said. “You said it’s Queen’s Call, right?”

“Yes.”

“Ooh, that gives me an idea for the perfect name for my hero form. Queen Bee.”

“That sounds perfect Chloe.” Sabrina said.

“Of course it is. I suit being a Queen. It won’t be long before Paris will be praising me like Ladybug.”

“I don’t think she quite get what it means to be a hero.” Philla said quietly to Sabrina. “Are you sure you don’t want the comb?”

“I’m sure Chloe will do a better job than me.” Sabrina replied. “Just give her a chance.”

Philla sighed in defeat.

* * *

 

“Evening, M’lady.” Chat greeted Ladybug on top of a building. “It’s rare to see your lovely face when there isn’t an Akuma attack.”

“I know. But you’re out from same reason I am, aren’t you? Your Kwami felt something?” Ladybug said.

“Yep, but he’s so lazy he didn’t bother to tell me what.” Chat said.

Ladybug sighed. “Tikki told me that another Miraculous has been activated.” She said. “So, we should be expecting another hero to show up soon.”

Ladybug knew that Chat Noir’s Kwami hadn’t told him about the Guardian yet, so she didn’t tell him that Master Fu had hinted towards his intentions of giving out another Miraculous to her.

“That’s great.” Chat said. “I wonder what they’ll be like.”

“Hopeful better at jokes than you.” Ladybug teased.

“No one is better at Jokes than me, I am the pun master.” Chat said.

“And your puns are terrible.”

Ladybug then turned around to leave but Chat grabbed her arm.

“Can you please stay for a while, we don’t have to worry about changing back.” Chat begged.

Ladybug sighed but smiled, Chat was almost as bad as Manon when it came to his kitten eyes.

“Fine.” She said. “Race you to Notre Dame.”

Ladybug then took off running.

Chat looked surprised before grinning and running after her.

“No fair, you got a head start!” He called.

* * *

 

The Akuma attack came early the next morning, thankfully not a college day, Hawkmoth had apparently found out about another Miraculous being activated as well and wasn’t happy about it.

Today’s Akuma was a young girl around twelve who was told she couldn’t have a party for her birthday this year because she was ‘too old’ for them, so she had become a party themed villain that reminded Marinette of Pinkie Pie from the My Little Pony show that Manon liked to watch.

“She’s certainly a party pooper.” Chat punned as exploding cake was thrown their way.

Ladybug groaned in response.

“Just let me have my fun!” The Akuma, Birthday Girl, cried.

“There’s a difference between fun, and hurting others!” Ladybug shouted at the Akuma.

“It’s fun to me!”

Birthday Girl then summoned balloons with strings that wrapped around people, then lifted them into the sky.

Ladybug and Chat Noir then charged in for a frontal assault, but Birthday Girl summoned a huge party popper and aimed it at them. Just as she pulled the string something knocked her to the side, causing her to slam into a wall and miss her targets.

“Don’t worry, guys, I’m here now.” A voice said.

Ladybug and Chat Noir turned and saw Queen Bee standing there with her hands on her hips.

“I take it you’re the new Miraculous holder.” Ladybug said.

“Speaking.” She replied. “You can call me Queen Bee.”

Birthday Girl had recovered and was angry.

“You’re ruining my party!” She growled.

Queen Bee’s trompo span back over to her and she dangled her string to the floor, the trompo then wrapped itself back up in the string until it reached her hand.

“A pretty lame party.” Queen Bee commented. “You don’t even have any gifts.”

Birthday girl threw her exploding cupcakes at Queen Bee, who struggled to dodge in time.

“Hey, you almost hit me!” Queen Bee yelled.

“Something tells me this girl wasn’t prepared to actually fight Akumas.” Ladybug said.

“Give her a break, she is a new-bee after all.” Chat said.

Ladybug groaned as she realised a whole new reservoir of puns had just been opened up to Chat Noir, she would need to warn the new hero about them when she got the chance.

Ladybug leapt in front of Queen Bee, using her yoyo to block an attack from Birthday Girl that would have hit her.

“You need to be careful.” Ladybug told Queen Bee. “Akumas are dangerous.”

“Oh, uh, sorry. I’m new to this.” Queen Bee said.

“I know. Aim for the party hat on her head, we think that’s where her Akuma is.” Ladybug said.

“Okay, I’ve got this.”

Queen Bee threw her trompo at Birthday Girl but missed.

“Whoops.” She said.

Ladybug sighed but didn’t hold it against Queen Bee, her first outing hadn’t been very good either.

Then the spinner bounced against a wall and headed back towards Queen Bee, knocking over Birthday Girl in the process.

“I meant to do that.” Queen Bee insisted, picking up her trompo again.

“Sure, we bee-lieve you.” Chat Noir said.

“I should warn you, Chat Noir is going to use you to pun every chance he gets.” Ladybug told Queen Bee.

“Ladybug, that really stings.” Chat said, holding his hand over his heart.

Ladybug rolled her eyes and went back to attacking Birthday girl.

Over the course of the fight Queen Bee seemed to quickly improve like Ladybug and Chat Noir had in their first outing, she was more accurate with her weapon and was able to dodge without stumbling.

After yet another bee pun from Chat Noir, Ladybug didn’t say anything when Queen Bee’s trompo ‘accidently’ almost hit him.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug called out.

A red and black-spotted box with a ribbon landed in her hands.

“A present.” Ladybug observed. “Hey, Birthday Girl, I have something for you!”

Birthday Girl looked and her face lit up when she saw what Ladybug held.

“A present!” She cried happily, running over.

Ladybug handed the present to Birthday Girl, and while the Akuma was distracted she grabbed the party hat off of her head.

“Huh, it’s empty.” Birthday Girl said after opening the box.

Ladybug tore the party hat and the Akuma fluttered out.

“No more evil-doing for you, little Akuma.” Ladybug said, opening up her yoyo and swinging it around. “Time to de-evilise!”

Ladybug caught the Akuma in her yoyo and it closed, she caught her yoyo and opened it again, releasing a white butterfly.

“Bye, bye, little butterfly.” Ladybug said. “Miraculous Ladybug!” She then called out as she threw the present into the air.

The present exploded into ladybugs which swept around the city, reversing all damages and returning the people who had been taken by the balloons to the ground.

“We make such a good team.” Queen Bee said to Ladybug, briefly hugging her.

“Uh, thanks.” Ladybug said, uncomfortable at the close contact.

“We’re going to be the best of friends, I can just tell.” Queen Bee said.

Ladybug’s earrings then beeped, saving her from anymore of Queen Bee invading her personal space.

“Got to go.” She said. “Bug out.”

“Aw.” Queen Bee pouted.

“What, no love for me?” Chat asked jokingly.

He hadn’t used his cataclysm so he didn’t need to run off anywhere.

“Dream on, alley cat.” Queen Bee said with disinterest. “If Ladybug’s gone, I’m not interested.”

Queen Bee then ran off.

Unlike Ladybug, Queen Bee couldn’t use her toy-like weapon to grapple onto buildings to get around, but she had found that she could make herself lighter, not enough to float but it enabled her to leap long distances.

With a shrug, Chat also headed home.

* * *

 

Master Fu watched the news with a pensive look on his face.

 _“But Ladybug and Chat Noir were not alone in fighting Hawkmoth’s latest victim, today. There seems to be a new hero on the block who goes by the name, Queen Bee.”_ The reporter said.

The news showed a video clip of Queen Bee fighting alongside Ladybug.

_“So far, opinion on this new hero is split. Some are ready to welcome this new protector of Paris while others are worried that she may be another Akuma in disguise.”_

Looking at Queen Bee, Fu could tell that she was not the girl he had chosen as the Bee Miraculous holder, and he had a good guess as to who was really behind the mask.

“I warned you this would happen, master.” Wayzz said.

“I know.” Fu said. “But what is done is done. Thankfully, she seems to be using her powers for good, which means there is good in her, maybe Philla can even change the girl for the better.”

“And if she decides to use her powers for self-gain like what happened before?”

“Then I will tell Ladybug and Chat Noir who is underneath the mask so that they can retrieve it. But I hope that doesn’t have to happen.”


	2. A really bad idea

A month had passed since Queen Bee had arrive on the scene and it was getting into the colder months, thankfully for the heroes their suit regulated their temperature so they didn’t feel the cold as much. In that month a few things had become clear about Queen Bee, one was that she was a huge fan of Ladybug, clinging to the spotted hero whenever she got the chance, two was that she had a huge ego, always praising herself for her deeds, and three was that she had a fierce rivalry with Chat Noir. The Bee hero believing that she should be Ladybug’s true partner while Chat was only a sidekick, and the Cat hero believing that Queen Bee was an egocentric pain-in-the-ass who didn’t help out as much as she should, they both also competed over Ladybug’s attention.

“M’lady, I’m sure the Akuma is in her bag.” Chat Noir said, as they tried to work out where an Akuma was on the villain they were fighting.

“You’ve got bad eyesight alley cat, it’s obviously in her hairpin.” Queen Bee countered.

“And how would you know? The bag sticks out more.”

“Because the obvious object isn’t always the right object. Remember Vanisher?”

“How do you know about that?” Ladybug asked, she hadn’t remembered many details about Vanisher getting out.

“I read.” Queen Bee quickly covered up.

Today’s Akuma was a woman who was so obsessed with beauty that it was borderline a disorder, even Queen Bee would say she took her obsession too far, and that was saying something. She carried a bag full of different make-up products that had varying effects on people, and her hair was pinned back with a butterfly hairpin.

“You bee-lieve me over Queenie, don’t you, M’lady?” Chat Noir begged Ladybug.

“Sorry, Chat Noir, I have to agree with Queen Bee.” Ladybug said.

“Ha!” Queen Bee laughed at him.

Chat grumbled slightly.

“Focus on the Akuma, please.” Ladybug said.

“You won’t take away my perfect beauty!” The Akuma, Madam Vanity, shouted.

“How can we take away something you don’t have?” Queen Bee taunted.

That comment got Madam Vanity to focus on Queen Bee.

“Okay, I guess Queen Bee’s playing distraction today, again.” Ladybug commented dryly.

Queen Bee eventually failed to dodge a beam shot from Madam Vanity’s lipstick, her lips turned bright red and became stuck together, preventing her from speaking.

Queen Bee tried desperately to speak but couldn’t open her mouth causing her to let out a muffled scream of frustration. She then fired her trompo at Madam vanity in retaliation.

With Madam Vanity busy with Queen Bee Chat and Ladybug also tried to attack, but the villain proved to quick and dodged their attacks. She then took a bottle of nail varnish out of her back and fired a glob of the varnish at them, which enlarged as it flew through the air, the three heroes succeeded in dodging until a glob a varnish managed to hit Chat Noir’s leg and hardened, trapping him where he was.

Chat tried to free himself using his staff but the hardened varnish proved to be too hard.

“Take his Miraculous, now!” Hawkmoth ordered Madam Vanity as his symbol appeared over her face.

Madam Vanity attempted to grab at Chat only to be stopped by Ladybug, who forced her to back up.

“Let’s see you swing that yoyo around when you can’t move.” Madam Vanity said.

Madam Vanity brought out a bottle of foundation, which would cause whoever got hit by it to have trouble moving.

Ladybug and Queen Bee fought Madam Vanity and did their best to avoid getting hit by the foundation beam while Chat struggled to free himself from the varnish. Eventually he decided he had only one way out of it.

“Cataclysm!” Chat cried out, summoning his destructive power.

Chat pressed his hand to the varnish and it crumbled away, freeing him.

With Ladybug and Queen Bee, everything was going fine until Queen Bee got hit in her hair just as she fired her trompo, causing her to stop and freak out over her hair while her trompo went off course and hit Ladybug instead. And as Ladybug recovered Madam Vanity managed to hit her with her foundation beam, slowing down Ladybug’s movements.

Madam Vanity then went for Ladybug’s earrings, the hero in question being too slow to stop her and Queen Bee still distracted by the state of her hair.

Thankfully, Chat Noir stepped in just in time, flinging Madam Vanity away with her staff.

“You’re looking a bit stiff, bugaboo.” Chat said to Ladybug.

“I need to call on my Lucky Charm, but I can hardly move.” Ladybug said, her voice not affected by foundation.

“Don’t worry, we’ll buy you time.” Chat then looked over to Queen Bee. “Well, I will.”

Chat ran over to Queen Bee.

“Snap out of it, we still have an Akuma to defeat.” He told her.

Queen Bee didn’t want to do anymore fighting, all she wanted to do was go home and book a stylist to fix her hair, but doing so would affect her reputation as a hero and would disappoint Ladybug. So she nodded and moved to attack Madam Vanity with Chat.

While Chat Noir and Queen Bee kept Madam Vanity busy, Ladybug very slowly raised her hand above her.

“Lucky Charm!” She called.

Thankfully, her yoyo was magic and did require much force to go into the air to summon her charm. The object materialised above her but because of her slowness she failed to catch it and it fell to the ground, so she slowly lent down to pick it up. She eventually managed to pick it up and look at the object.

“Make-up remover.” She said.

Looking around with her vision, Chat and Madam Vanity’s face lit up, telling her what to do.

“Chat Noir!” She called.

Chat ran over to her.

“Use this on her face.” Ladybug told him.

Chat nodded and took the bottle, he unscrewed it and when he got the chance he splashed it in Madam Vanity’s face.

Madam Vanity screeched and took a mirror out of her bag, watching in horror at her make-up started to run off her face.

“No! My beauty!” She cried.

Madam Vanity reached desperately into her bag and pulled out her make-up, applying it like her life depended on it.

With Madam Vanity fully engaged in her task, Chat easily took the pin out of her hair.

Chat Noir then went over to Ladybug and poured the remaining make-up remover over her, freeing her from the slowing effects of the foundation.

Queen Bee let out angry muffled noises and pointed to her mouth.

“Sorry, all gone.” Chat said with an unsympathetic shrug, tipping the bottle upside down to show it was empty.

“That’s better.” Ladybug said, rolling her arms. “Now, the Akuma.”

Chat snapped the hairpin in two and the Akuma fluttered out, Ladybug catching and purifying it.

Ladybug then grabbed the make-up remover bottle and prepared to throw it into the air.

“Do you have to?” Chat asked before she could. “I like her better like this.” He pointed to Queen Bee.

Queen Bee waved her fist at him and let out more angry mumbles, obviously threatening him.

“Chat, that’s not nice.” Ladybug chastised him.

Queen Bee nodded, crossing her arms.

“Besides, Queen Bee wasn’t the only one affected.” Ladybug added. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The Miraculous cure then returned everything to normal.

Queen Bee quickly felt her hair and sighed in relief at it being clean again.

“I can talk again.” She said happily.

“I know, and I was so happy when you couldn’t, what a buzzkill.” Chat Noir said.

“You want to say that again, alley cat?” Queen Bee growled at him.

Chat’s ring then beeped, reminding him he only had a couple of minutes left.

“What do you know, got to go.” He said, throwing the hairpin in his hands to Queen Bee and running off.

“Scaredy-cat.” Queen Bee said.

Queen Bee then turned to Ladybug only to find her leaving.

“I’ve got to go too, bug out.” Ladybug said. “Can you take care of the victim?”

“Sure.” Queen Bee answered with a sigh.

Ladybug then swung off.

Queen Bee then went over to the woman previously known as Madam Vanity and gave the woman back her hairpin, helping her to stand as an ambulance arrived.

Queen Bee didn’t actually care for the woman, and would have happily left when the other heroes had, but since Ladybug had asked her to do it and it made people like her more, she helped the woman.

After helping the woman to the ambulance and turning her over to the paramedics, Queen Bee was about to leave but was confronted by reporters.

“Queen Bee, can we have a few words?” One of the reporters asked.

Queen Bee grinned, happy to be the centre of attention.

“I think I can spare a few minutes.” She said.

“What’s your relationship with Ladybug and Chat Noir?” A different reporter asked.

“Ladybug and I are really close, perfect partners, we’re both bugs after all.” Queen Bee answered.

“What about Chat Noir?”

“He’s okay, I guess. He does his part and that’s what matters.”

“Do you think you’ve made a difference since you arrived on the scene?” A third reporter asked.

“Of course. With my help, Ladybug has been able to cleanse Akumas much better than when she just had Chat Noir. And I don’t mean to put him down, but there’s been a definite decrease in the amount of times Chat Noir has been hit by the effects of an Akuma since I showed up. My only regret is that I couldn’t have shown up sooner.”

“People have been saying that you aren’t doing enough and can sometimes even make an Akuma worse. What do you say to that?” Asked the first reporter.

Queen Bee frowned, she hadn’t expected people to have that sort of opinion of her. Who did like her?

“Well, they obviously don’t know just how much of a struggle being a hero is.” She said. “Not that it’s too much for me. Anyway, questions are over.”

Queen Bee then ran off.

* * *

 

Sabrina arrived at Chloe’s room to find her friend furiously looking up internet articles about Queen Bee.

“Chloe, what’s wrong?” Sabrina asked.

“She just realised what should have been obvious.” Philla said from where she was munching on honey fudge.

“This isn’t right!” Chloe exclaimed to Sabrina. “I grace Paris with my help, and this is how they treat me.”

Chloe showed Sabrina a news report from an Akuma attack from a week ago, but it was just reporting the news without offering any opinions and Sabrina couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

“I don’t see anything wrong.” Sabrina said, nervous at how Chloe would react to her not seeing what she obviously saw.

“What is wrong is that I’m not getting enough recognition.” Chloe burst out. “I should be given top billing alongside Ladybug, instead I’m barely mentioned, like I was an afterthought.”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir have been a duo for a long time, maybe people are still getting used to a third hero.” Sabrina suggested.

“It’s been a month, Sabrina, that should be more than enough time.”

Chloe then showed off an article from a gossip magazine.

“And that’s not even the worst thing!” Chloe said.

‘Queen Bee, superhero or superzero?’ Read the headline.

Sabrina winced, she had tried her best to hide these sort of things from Chloe and let her think that all of Paris loved her, but she had obviously failed.

“This trashy writer dares accuse me of not doing enough and being pointless. I do plenty for this city, I’m willing to waste my precious time to save lesser people like this person, and then they dare to say I don’t do my part. It’s outrageous! I should have daddy sue them for libel!”

“But if you do that you’ll give away that you’re Queen Bee.” Sabrina quickly reminded her.

Chloe didn’t look any less angry, but at least she looked like she didn’t want to blow her cover.

“It’s not fair, I should be treated better, I deserve better.” Chloe pouted.

“Just give it time, Chloe.” Sabrina said. “People are just looking for someone to aim at.”

“But why’d it have to be me? Why can’t it be that alley cat? He’s the sidekick.”

“Oh, poor you.” Philla said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Some of the past Miraculous holders got treated worse than you and yet didn’t complain as much.”

“You know, I can easily take that fudge you like so much away and give you nothing but crackers.” Chloe threatened.

Philla gave a huff and took a big bite of her fudge. “That’s Kwami abuse.” She said.

“I’m sure you’ll prove the people who doubt you wrong in no time.” Sabrina reassured Chloe.

“I know I will.” Chloe agreed.

* * *

 

Another week passed and Chloe was about ready to trash her room, despite her efforts, opinions of Queen Bee had only slightly changed for the better, and even then they made sure to say it in a bad way. With people saying that Queen Bee was ‘finally pulling her weight’ and that she’s ‘not as useless as before’.

“Lots of people love you, Chloe. See?” Sabrina told her friend, showing her an appreciation blog towards Queen Bee.

Granted, Sabrina had been the one to start the site, but she was far from the only member.

“Sabrina’s right.” Philla told Chloe. “Stop focusing on the people who don’t like you, and focus on the people that do. But still try hard like you’ve been doing and you’ll get more people who like you.”

“But I’m perfect, they should like me as I am now!” Chloe exclaimed. “I take down Akumas, so I should get the same respect as Ladybug.”

Chloe was too angry to listen to the logical words of her friend and Kwami, only concerned in reading people’s opinions of Queen Bee, and the more she read the more angry she became.

‘If Queen Bee thinks so highly of herself, maybe she should take down the next Akuma by herself.’ One of the comments said.

“I bet I could take down an Akuma by myself.” Chloe boasted. “And then people couldn’t say I’m weak anymore.”

An idea suddenly dawned on Chloe, a really terrible idea.

“Chloe?” Sabrina asked when she saw the expression on Chloe’s face, it was the same when she was scheming to get what she wanted.

“You don’t really think you can take on an Akuma all by yourself, do you?” Philla asked.

“Maybe not a strong one. But I bet if I had my Miraculous back when that ridiculous Akuma, Mr. Pigeon, was around, I could have defeated him singlehandedly. If another ridiculous Akuma like him showed up I bet I could take them on easily.”

“And what are the chances of something like that happening?”

“More than usual if I control the situation.”

Philla dropped her fudge as she caught on to what Chloe meant.

“You can’t seriously be suggesting something so stupid?” She asked, shocked.

“Deliberately create and Akuma?” Sabrina asked, also having caught on.

“I’ll admit, I may have contributed to one or two in the past because people were way to sensitive. So, how hard could it be to do it on purpose?” Chloe said thoughtfully.

“In all of my millennia, I have never heard something as stupid as what you’re suggesting right now.” Philla said angrily.

“I don’t know why you’re complaining, victims never remember and are never blamed for their actions, and from my own experience it can even lighten their emotional load.” Chloe said dismissively.

“It doesn’t change the fact you’ll be deliberately putting someone in Hawkmoth’s sights, turning them into a villain and putting people in danger. Sabrina, please make her see sense.” Philla begged Sabrina.

Sabrina gathered her courage. “Philla’s right, Chloe. It’s wrong.” She said.

“Maybe. But daddy always says that to achieve something important, you have to do things that aren’t always moral. And getting the recognition I deserve is important.” Chloe said. “Now who to use?”

Sabrina watched helplessly as Chloe heartlessly planned, even she hadn’t believed Chloe would go this far.

“Marinette would be satisfying to beat, and her family owns a bakery, so she could end up as some sort of bread-based Akuma, pretty ridiculous. But she’s also a designer and could end up themed after that which includes needles, scissors and other dangerous things.” Chloe said.

Sabrina clenched her fists and tears came to her eyes as she finally saw the monster her friend had become.

“Chloe, I can’t take this anymore.” She said. “I’ve looked past many things, but I can’t look past this.”

“Watch how you speak to me, or I might not be your friend anymore.” Chloe threatened.

“Good, because from now on, I’m not your friend either.”

“What?” Chloe demanded.

“I won’t be friends with a monster!”

Sabrina took out the hair slide Chloe had given her in place of the Bee comb and threw it to the ground, she then turned around and ran out of Chloe’s room.

“Fine! Leave! See if I care!” Chloe shouted after her. “Who needs you anyway?”

Chloe angrily went back to planning who to make an Akuma.

Philla realised she wouldn’t be able to talk any sense into her forced chosen. Hoping she wouldn’t be too late, she raced after Sabrina. But no matter how much she looked, Philla couldn’t find Sabrina, meaning that she had already left.

Philla sighed, she had been hoping to talk to Sabrina to get her to find and tell the Guardian about Chloe’s plan, but now she just had to hope Chloe’s plan failed.

“I don’t care if she’s seventy-four and blind, the Guardian should have given me back to my previous wielder.” Philla grumbled as she made her way back to Chloe’s room.


	3. Going too far

The next day, Chloe found a target and enacted her plan.

Her target was a girl from a different class who always kept to herself and away from her classmates, most people thought she was just shy but according to the dirt Sabrina dug up for her before they had stopped being friends, the girl was basically a woman child. The girl kept away from her classmates because she was uncomfortable around people her age or older, only able to interact with younger children, and her favourite things to do were things everyone considered her too old for, such as watching children’s cartoons, playing in playgrounds, enjoying books made for young children, cuddly toys, etc. And she was clearly embarrassed about it all.

If Chloe played her cards right, the girl would turn into a child-themed Akuma, easy to take down on her own as Queen Bee.

Chloe found the girl at a store, in the toy section.

“Wow, you really are such a weirdo.” Chloe said to the girl.

The girl turned around and her eyes widened when she recognised Chloe.

“What, what do you mean?” The girl asked.

“Buying toys? How old are you, six?” Chloe asked.

“There for my little sister.” The girl lied.

“Come off it, I know you don’t have a sister. You’re just a same girl who doesn’t know how to grow up.”

“Shut up.”

“I don’t think I will. Why should I listen to a creeper? I mean, who hangs around young children when it’s not their job?”

The girl was beginning to cry, obviously not having control of her emotions. Which was good for Chloe.

“What, you’re a cry-baby too? I shouldn’t be surprised. Why don’t you go home and find comfort in your pathetic toys, you obvious don’t have any friends to go crying too.” Chloe taunted.

That proved to be the final straw for the girl and she ran out of the shop crying.

Chloe walked out the shop as well, watching the girl, she knew the first stage of her plan would happen. But as she watched the girl run off she felt guilt well up inside her, this was the first time she actually made a conscious effort to make an Akuma, but she pushed it down in favour of thinking how respected Queen Bee would be after this.

Chloe then hid in an alleyway to transform, ready for when the girl was Akumatised.

Queen Bee didn’t have to wait long, only a few minutes passed before the Akuma appeared in the scene.

The Akuma was dressed up like a young, evil looking, child/doll, complete with high pigtails and painted cheeks. In her hands she held a toy bunny that shot beams out of its eyes, anyone who was hit by the beam began to de-age.

“I am Babydoll!” The Akuma declared. “And soon, no one will be able to judge me!”

“This is going to be too easy.” Queen Bee remarked.

Queen Bee ran after the Akuma and threw her trompo at her, knocking the villain flat on her face.

“You meanie!” Babydoll cried as she got back up and rubbed her nose.

Babydoll then fired her de-aging beam but Queen Bee flipped to the side to avoid it.

“Is that all you got?” Queen Bee taunted. “I could probably take you out even if that thing did hit me.”

“No, I have much more.” Babydoll said innocently.

Babydoll somehow attached her bunny to her waist and took out a small pouch, dipping a hand in she withdrew some marbles. She then threw the marbles at Queen Bee, which then exploded.

Queen Bee cried out as the blast sent her backwards into a building. She got up and winced at the pain in her back the impact had caused, she then caught her reflection in a car window and saw her hair was slightly messed up, causing her to get angry.

“Take that!” Babydoll laughed. “Not so tough now, are you?”

“You’ll pay for that, you brat!” Queen Bee shouted.

Queen Bee then attacked.

But despite Babydoll’s silly look and theme, she proved to be a strong Akuma. On top of her de-aging bunny and exploding marbles, she also had an inflatable hammer that hit much harder than it should have and made a squeaking sound whenever it hit something.

Because she had underestimated the strength of the Akuma she had caused, Queen Bee hadn’t been able to defeat Babydoll before Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived like she had planned.

“You don’t need to get involved.” Queen Bee told Ladybug. “I’ve got this.”

“Really?” Chat asked. “Because it seems you’re getting you bee-hind handed to you.”

“Nothing I can’t handle.” Queen Bee assured. “Just sit back while I deal with her.”

“Queen Bee, we need to work together as a team.” Ladybug told her. “We’re not letting you take on an Akuma all by yourself.”

“But I can do it.” Queen Bee insisted.

While the heroes were busy arguing, Babydoll was given a clear shot. She held up her bunny and a beam shot out of its eyes, hitting Queen Bee square in the back.

Ladybug and Chat Noir watched as Queen Bee de-aged before their eyes, only stopping once she looked to be around six.

“Ahh!” Queen Bee cried as she looked down at herself.

Queen Bee’s outfit had changed with her transformation, not being a black and yellow striped dress with attached gloves, black tights, and yellow Mary-Jane shoes.

“Let’s see if you can live up to your boast!” Babydoll called.

Queen Bee growled and readied her trompo, which was bigger in her hands now, to attack, ready to prove she could beat the Akuma even as a child. But she was stopped by being picked up by Chat Noir.

“Hey, put me down!” Queen Bee squirmed in her captor’s grip.

“I don’t think so.” Chat said. “Going against that Akuma wouldn’t be a very good move with how you are right now.”

“Chat Noir, take Queen Bee out of the way before she gets herself hurt.” Ladybug ordered.

“Alright, M’Lady, I’ll take Queen Bee out of danger.” Chat said. “Though, I guess that should be Kid Bee now.”

“Shut up and put me down! I can fight just fine.” Queen Bee insisted.

“Yes, I’m sure those tiny arms and legs will be perfect for fighting.” Chat said sarcastically, carrying Queen Bee away from the fight.

“We can’t just leave Ladybug to fight Babydoll alone.” Queen Bee said as they got further and further away from the fight.

“And yet you said you could fight her alone.” Chat said.

“Of course I can, because I-” Queen Bee stopped before she could give away that she had planned the Akuma.

“Because you what?”

“I’ve had time to analyse her attacks.” Queen Bee covered up.

“Sure.” Chat said unconvinced.

Was Chat decided they were far away enough, he set Queen Bee down, who was pouting and shooting him a venomous look.

“Stay here.” He told her, running off to join Ladybug.

Once Queen Bee was sure Chat was far enough away, she disobeyed.

“Not likely.” She said.

Jumping back across the rooftops was harder since she was only a little kid, but she managed.

Chat Noir had almost reached the scene of the fight when he saw Ladybug swinging towards him.

“What happened to Babydoll?” He asked.

“She got bored and disappeared.” Ladybug said, a bit angry. “She said she was going to hunt down Chloe Bourgeois.”

“I’m guessing Miss Bourgeois caused the Akuma then.” Chat said unhappily, he didn’t like that his childhood friend caused so many Akumas.

“Not even a shock.” Ladybug replied. “Come on, let’s get to the hotel. Wait, where’s Queen Bee?”

“I left her on a rooftop that way.” Chat said, pointing behind him.

“You left on her own?” Ladybug asked.

“Uh…”

Ladybug sighed and followed the direction Chat had pointed, it didn’t take long for her to run into Queen Bee.

“Okay, next time I’m tying you down.” Chat said to Queen Bee.

“I’m not letting you fight Dollmaker without me.” Queen Bee said stubbornly.

“Fine.” Ladybug said, defeated. “But stay out of direct danger, you’re too small for regular combat.”

“I’m guessing I’ll have to carry Kid Bee.” Chat said.

“No way, I’m not being carried by you.” Queen Bee said. “And don’t call me that!”

“And how do you expect to keep up with us with your short legs?”

“Ladybug can carry me.”

“I don’t think…” Ladybug began.

“Please.” Queen Bee pleaded.

Ladybug sighed in defeat. “Fine.”

Queen Bee was soon carried by Ladybug piggyback style as they swung towards the mayor’s hotel.

“Why are we going here?” Queen Bee asked when she noticed their destination.

“Miss Bourgeois caused Babydoll’s Akumatisation, so Babydoll’s going after her.” Ladybug answered.

“Oh.” Queen Bee said.

She had forgotten Akumas targeted the ones who caused their Akuma in the first place. But, the good news was that she was Queen Bee now, so she didn’t have to worry about that anymore.

“Something tells me Miss Bourgeois will be fine.” Queen Bee said, assuming Ladybug was worried about her civilian identity.

The heroes arrived at the hotel and went into Chloe’s room through the window, where Babydoll was tearing apart Chloe’s room.

“M-!” Queen clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from shouting out ‘my room’.

“Where is she?” Babydoll demanded.

“We don’t know.” Ladybug said. “But we’re going to make sure you don’t find her.”

Ladybug and Chat Noir fought against Babydoll with Queen Bee listening to what Ladybug had said and providing support from the sidelines, throwing her trompo and keeping out of the way of Babydoll.

All throughout the battle Chloe’s room got more and more damaged, the only thing keeping Queen Bee from breaking down was the thought that Ladybug’s Miraculous cure would fix everything. Things were beginning to head in the heroes’ favour when Ladybug managing to get Babydoll’s exploding marbles from her.

“No more!” Babydoll cried, stamping her feet in frustration. “Three on one isn’t fair!”

“I don’t recall us having to play fair.” Queen Bee said.

Babydoll raised her hammed above her head and smashed it into the floor, causing the floor to crack and fall apart, sending the heroes down to the lower floor.

“If I can’t find Chloe, I’ll just have to go after the next best thing, the one who created that monster in the first place.” Babydoll said, leaving.

The heroes groaned as they recovered.

“The one who created her?” Chat questioned. “What’s that mean?”

Ladybug hummed, trying to work it out.

“If I’d known the Akuma would be this much trouble, I would have chosen someone else to become one.” Queen Bee muttered angrily over the state of her room as she dusted herself off, not realising she had said it out loud.

“What?” Chat and Ladybug exclaimed, having heard her.

Queen Bee’s eyes widened when she realised what she had just given away.

“It’s not how it sounds.” She said quickly.

“Really? Because to me it sounds like you just said you purposely caused Babydoll to become an Akuma!” Ladybug burst out angrily.

“Well, when you say it like that…”

“So it’s true? How could you?” Ladybug shouted.

“I thought I’d be able to beat her on my own.”

“You mean you did it for the fame?” Chat asked coldly.

Queen Bee didn’t respond.

“I didn’t think you’d be able to stoop this low.” Chat said.

“People weren’t respecting me, I thought if I defeated an Akuma by myself they’d finally respect me.” Queen Bee justified.

“And you thought the best way to do it was to create an Akuma?” Ladybug asked.

“Babydoll said Chloe was the reason, did you asked her to do it?” Chat asked.

“Uh, yes.” Queen Bee said, not wanting to give away her identity.

Chat Noir looked really disappointed, but it was in someone else other than Queen Bee.

“And you call yourself a hero.” Ladybug said, looking like she wanted to hit something.

Ladybug went over to the window and cast out her yoyo.

“Stay here if you know what’s good for you, though I doubt you do.” She said coldly to Queen Bee, swinging off.

Chat did say anything as he ran off after Ladybug, leaving Queen Bee in the remains on her room.

After having her hero yelling at her and looking at her with such contempt, Queen Bee decided to listen and stay where she was instead of going after them.

Eventually, Queen Bee got bored of waiting and wanted to know what was going on, but she didn’t want to risk going herself because of how angry and Ladybug and Chat Noir were at her. Thankfully, she had a way of see what was happening without being there herself.

Queen Bee took out her trompo and threw it gently to the ground where it spun, she then bent down and it spun onto her hand, and she then held the hand with the trompo in it above her head.

“Queen’s Call!” She said.

The top of her trompo opened up and from inside a swarm of bees made of yellow light emerged and flew around her, when a hive’s-worth was flying around her the trompo closed and Queen Bee lowered her arm and put the trompo back in her hip purse.

Like Philla had told her, Queen Bee felt a connection to the bees she had summoned, like they were an extension of herself, she could see and hear what they saw and felt. She didn’t need to give any verbal instructions, as soon as she thought of what she wanted them to do they left to do it.

Her bees flew across the city until some of them found Ladybug, Chat Noir and Babydoll, Queen Bee was then able to watch the fight as if she was there.

Through the eyes of her bees, Queen Bee watched Ladybug and Chat Noir battle Babydoll while trying to protect a young boy from her, Ladybug then summoned her Lucky Charm to aid in their fight. At first Queen Bee didn’t recognise the boy Babydoll was after for some reason, but then she spotted the sash and suit the boy was wearing and she realised who it was.

“Dad!” She yelled.

Forgoing Ladybug’s angry instruction to remain where she was, Queen Bee left the hotel and began running to where the fight was happening, desperate to help her dad.

But when she got there, the fight had just finished, she arrived just in time to see Ladybug tear apart the bunny toy housing the Akuma, and cleansing and releasing the butterfly.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybug yelled as she threw her lucky charm into the air.

The Miraculous cure undid all the damage done and reverted everyone back to their proper ages, including Queen Bee.

Ladybug then began to walk away from the scene, towards Queen Bee.

“Ladybug, I…” Queen Bee started.

“Save it! I don’t want to ever see your face again.” Ladybug scowled as she shoved passed Queen Bee and swung away.

“If you’re smart, you’ll turn your Miraculous over to someone more deserving.” Chat told her as walked past her and ran off.

“What did you do to make them so angry?” Mayor Bourgeois asked as he walked over to Queen Bee.

Queen Bee felt brief happiness at seeing her father alright, but it was quickly buried under the sadness of what the other two heroes had said to her and the guilt of her actions.

“I, uh, said something I didn’t realise was personal to them.” Queen Bee lied.

There was a beep, telling Queen Bee that she only had a couple of minutes before her own transformation wore off.

“I’ve got to go.” She said, running off.

* * *

 

When Chloe returned to her room she found it back to normal with no sign of damage.

“Well, I hope you’re proud of yourself.” Philla said to Chloe. “You’re now as bad as Hawkmoth.”

Chloe didn’t respond.

“What now?” She eventually asked.

“I suspect the Guardian will be coming soon to pick my Miraculous up and take it away from a villain like you once Ladybug tells him what happened.” Philla said.

“I guess that’s fair. It’s not like Ladybug and Chat Noir will accept me as part of the team ever again.” Chloe said unhappily.

“Just put my comb back in the box and leave it on your dresser, the Guardian will pick me up.” Philla said, not wanting anything more to do with Chloe.

With a sigh, Chloe took out the comb and placed in back in the box she had found it in, she closed the lid and when she turned around Philla was gone.

* * *

 

The next day Chloe went to college feeling heavy. When she got to class she saw that Sabrina had moved next to Ivan, leaving Chloe to sit on her own. And during class Chloe was forced to actually pay attention and take her own notes since Sabrina wasn’t there to do it for her. After class, Chloe was met by Adrien, who took her to a secluded part of the college.

“Adrien!” Chloe said happily, attempting to hug him.

But Adrien kept her at arm’s length.

“Chloe.” He said, voice lacking emotion. “I want you to answer me truthfully. Did you deliberately cause an Akuma yesterday because Queen Bee asked you?”

Chloe wondered how Adrien knew about that when only Ladybug and Chat Noir were meant to know.

“What?” She asked.

“Chat Noir came to me yesterday and asked me to ask you.” Adrien said. “Did you really do it? Did you really like Queen Bee so much that you were willing to cause an Akuma?”

“I…I…” Chloe didn’t know how to answer.

But Adrien took her unwillingness to answer as confirmation.

“I can’t believe you, Chloe.” He said, disappointment and betrayal clear in his voice. “I managed to look past the other Akumas you created because you didn’t mean too. But this. You did this on purpose. You willingly put someone in Hawkmoth’s sight because a hero asked you to.”

Adrien ran his hand through his hair and stepped back from Chloe.

“I’m sorry, Chloe. But I just can’t be friends with you anymore.” He said, looking ready to cry.

“Adrien, no!” Chloe said, beginning to cry and reaching out for him.

Adrien stepped out of her reach.

“Just…leave me alone from now on.” He said, walking off.

Chloe remained where she was for a minute before kneeling down to cry, finally understanding just what her selfish actions had lost her.

After crying herself dry and cleaning herself up, Chloe went home.

When she reached her room, Chloe was surprised to see the box containing the Bee Miraculous still on her dresser, having expected it to have been taken already like Philla had said. Chloe guessed the Guardian would pick it up eventually.

Unknown to Chloe or a sleeping Philla, Master Fu had been out of the country for his own reasons and would remain out of the country for a while, having not yet learned of Queen Bee’s actions. So, the Bee Miraculous would remain with Chloe for a while.


	4. Trying to atone

A few weeks had passed and the Guardian Philla had mentioned hadn’t come for the Miraculous yet, making Chloe wonder if the Guardian didn’t know what she did of if he was giving her a second chance despite what she did.

College was a nightmare for Chloe now, she didn’t have her friends anymore so she was constantly on her own, and without Sabrina she was forced to do everything on her own that Sabrina had previously done such as her college work, carry her things, keep to her schedule, etc.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were the only ones who knew of Queen Bee’s actions and hadn’t told anyone about them, leaving Paris to wonder where their other hero had disappeared to. Whenever the press managed to catch the duo after a fight they refused to answer any questions about Queen Bee or even talk about her.

The problem with Queen Bee not being around anymore was the Akumas, Hawkmoth creating stronger Akumas had been the reason the Bee Miraculous had been activated in the first place, and without a third hero Ladybug and Chat Noir were struggling to win. It was taking longer to defeat Akumas, Ladybug or Chat Noir sometimes even having to retreat because they were running out of power, and if it wasn’t for Ladybug’s Miraculous Cure the property damage would have been catastrophic.

Chloe was currently sat in front of her TV, watching the live coverage of the latest Akuma attack. Ladybug and Chat Noir were up against a villain called Blackout, who had the ability to turn light into darkness with a wave of his cane and turn people blind if he managed to touch people with his cane, the villain was also blind himself but seemed to have no trouble ‘seeing’. The villain saying ‘soon everyone will know what it’s like to live their lives in complete darkness’ gave a good guess as to the cause of his Akumatisation.

Blackout proved to be a challenge for the heroes, wherever they were he would quickly turn everything dark, meaning only Chat with his night vision could fight properly while Ladybug was unable to see and had to guess her attacks and dodges.

Things only got worse when Blackout almost struck Ladybug with his blinding cane only for Chat to take the hit for her, like usual, and became blind himself instead, and rendering his night vision useless. Now both heroes were left fighting in the dark, leaving Blackout to attack them with ease and the heroes rarely managing to land a hit on him, often landing a hit on each other by accident.

It was only Chloe’s years of self-control training that stopped her from biting her perfectly manicured nails in worry as the heroes were beaten up. The news was still able to broadcast the fight despite the darkness because of their night vision cameras.

Chloe looked over to her dresser where the box containing the Bee Miraculous still lay, the Guardian having not come to pick it up like she had been told.

“They’re going to lose unless someone does something.” Chloe said to herself. “But I can’t do anything anymore, Philla and Ladybug and Chat Noir probably wouldn’t allow me to help.”

Chloe started pacing, looking helplessly at the screen as Ladybug and Chat Noir did their best to avoid Blackout’s attacks, the villain looking like he was just toying with them at this point. Ladybug took a rather sharp kick to the back and landed on her side, when she got back up she was holding her arm in pain.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir are taking a beating, this could possibly be the end for them.” Said the reporter. “Please, Queen Bee, if you’re out there, we need your help.”

It was this that spurred Chloe into action, she went over to the small box on her dresser and opened it, but the comb inside remained as it was and Philla didn’t appear, like she knew Chloe had been the one to open it and refused to come out.

“I should have expected this.” Chloe said. “I guess I really never can make up for what I did.”

Chloe then began to break down, crying, kneeling down with the Miraculous in her hands. Without Chloe and Adrien there, she was forced to confront the reality that she was a bad person, and now she was paying for it.

“Why?” She questioned herself. “How could I have done something so stupid?”

She looked at the Miraculous and cried harder.

“I know I don’t deserve to be forgiven. But does that mean I have to do nothing?”

One of her tears dripped directly onto the Miraculous, nothing happened for a few seconds, but then it lit up, the light enveloping Chloe’s vision. When the light faded, Chloe found herself in a black void.

“It doesn’t.” A voice said.

Chloe turned around to see a woman smiling gently at her. The woman was dressed in a yellow and black striped suit, yellow and black headphones with a radio antenna coming out from each side that went above her head, yellow visor sunglasses covering her eyes, and the same hip purse Chloe had as Queen Bee. In the woman’s hair was the Bee Miraculous.

“Who are you?” Chloe asked. “Where am I?”

“I am your past.” The woman answered. “And you made a terrible mistake, didn’t you?”

Despite her words, the woman never dropped her smile or gentle tone.

“I know.” Chloe said. “And it cost me almost everything that matters.”

“So, you regret your actions?” The woman asked.

“Of course I do!”

“That is good, it means you can acknowledge your mistakes, and then do something about them.”

“But what can I do? I can’t exactly go back in time and stop myself. Or apologise to that girl or my friends when I can’t even go near them.”

“Listen to me. I’ve made mistakes in the past, my old teammates have made mistakes in the past, everyone makes mistakes. What I’ve learned is that you can either spend your whole life trying to make up for what you did, or you can learn from what you did and continue forward, making sure to never repeat that mistake again.”

“I don’t think I can continue forward, Ladybug and Chat Noir probably won’t let me join the fight, Philla won’t even come out of the Miraculous.”

“I never said the road ahead will be easy, the bigger the mistake you make the harder it will be to move past it, and you made quite a big mistake. But that only makes it more satisfying when you manage to continue on. As for Philla, don’t worry, I’ll get her out. But it will be up to you to convince her to transform.”

“Thank you.” Chloe said genuinely.

The woman only smiled again.

The world around them then began to fade away and the woman with it.

“Wait, don’t go!” Chloe cried out, holding out a hand.

She didn’t want this woman to leave, her presence was comforting, like Chloe’s memories of her mother when she was younger.

“If you do this right, I’ll still be with you, even though you won’t see me.” The woman said.

Chloe then found herself back in her room, still kneeling on the floor with a colourless Miraculous in her hands and Philla floating before her.

Philla obviously wasn’t impressed about being out of the Miraculous and in front of Chloe, her small arms crossed and her face pulled into a frown.

“Look, I know you can never forgive me, and I don’t deserve to be. But Ladybug and Chat Noir need help, otherwise Hawkmoth will win.” Chloe begged the kwami.

Philla said nothing, just continuing to look at Chloe judgementally.

“Just for today.”

Again, Philla remained silent.

“Please, they need help. This Guardian guy hasn’t come to give you to someone else, so I’m the only one that can help.”

“Are you sure about that.” Philla finally said. “Because I recall being meant for someone else.”

Oh, Sabrina, Chloe’s former friend.

Chloe supposed it was fair, Sabrina was meant to have the Miraculous in the first place, and Ladybug and Chat Noir would be more likely to accept a new Bee hero than her, and Philla would be willing to transform with Sabrina. Sabrina wouldn’t be willing to see her, but Chloe could probably get enough time to hand over the Miraculous to its proper owner.

“I guess, I can hand you over to Sabrina instead.” Chloe said in defeat.

Philla was about to answer when she looked at the TV broadcasting the fight, showing her how bad Ladybug and Chat Noir were struggling.

“As much as I loath to say, right now that isn’t a good idea.” Philla said unhappily.

“What?” Chloe asked.

“By the time you find Sabrina it could already be too late. And she is not versed in fighting like you are, so she wouldn’t be much use even if she did get there in time.”

“You mean I get to be Queen Bee again?” Chloe asked, a little excited and happy.

Philla frowned at her. “Only this once because I have no choice, once you win you give me to Sabrina.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

“Let’s just get this over with.”

Chloe put the comb in her hair again.

“Philla, Sting Sharp!” She called out.

Queen Bee stood in Chloe’s place, ready to fight. But first, she needed to stop off at police headquarters for something.

* * *

 

Ladybug was back to back with Chat Noir, both of them with their weapons swinging in front of them to ward off the enemy they couldn’t see. They were attempting to move to an area of the city that still had light so Ladybug could see and attack Blackout, but that proved to be a challenge as everywhere they went was complete blackness with no light.

“I don’t know how much more I can take.” Ladybug said to Chat.

“Don’t give up, we always find a way.” Chat responded. “You still have your Lucky Charm.”

“Which won’t be much use if I can’t tell what it is or what to use it on.”

Ladybug and Chat then cried out as they were hit, sending them to the ground. Chat then felt someone pick him up by arm.

“I think it’s time to take your Miraculouses now.” Blackout said.

Blackout then reached to take the ring on Chat’s finger, Chat clenched his fist to stop him but then Blackout began to bend his arm at an unnatural angle to get him to open his hand, causing Chat to cry out in pain.

“Hey! Batman!” A voice called out.

Blackout was knocked several feet away from Chat by a spinning object. Said spinning object then returned to its owner.

Queen Bee quickly raced over to Chat and helped him to his feet and then pulled him over to Ladybug, who was searching around blindly.

“Here.” Queen Bee said, giving something to Ladybug. “Night vision goggles. I picked them up from the police station on the way here.”

Ladybug slipped on the night vision goggles and blinked as she was able to see again, though everything was green. She looked at Queen Bee, who was also wearing a pair of Night vision goggles.

“Queen Bee.” She greeted the other bug coldly.

Ladybug obviously hadn’t forgiven Queen Bee for her actions, not that Queen Bee blamed her.

“Look, I know I don’t even deserve this Miraculous, and after tomorrow I probably won’t even have it, but right now you need my help to defeat Blackout.” Queen Bee said.

“You’ve ‘helped’ by giving me the night vision goggles, I think you’ve done your good deed for the day.” Ladybug said.

Queen Bee looked down.

“As much as I don’t want to say it, Ladybug, we were struggling to fight Blackout from the start, we’re going to need Queen Bee to fight as well.” Chat said.

Ladybug sighed in resignation.

“Fine.” She said.

Ladybug then ran into fight Blackout, not acknowledging Queen Bee any further when she also entered the fight.

With Queen Bee there and the night vision goggles, the fight against Blackout was no longer a losing one. Now that she could see, Ladybug was able to land hits on Blackout, and Queen Bee got her own hits in as well, the only one not doing well was Chat because he was still blind and couldn’t tell where he was hitting. But even though Blackout’s powers were creating darkness and making people blind, like all of Hawkmoth’s Akumas he proved to be good in combat, able to use his cane to block Ladybug and Queen Bee’s weapons and wield it like a sword.

The fight seemed to be at a stalemate until Ladybug tripped over a rock she hadn’t seen due to the limited vision of the night vision goggles. Blackout saw this and aimed to hit Ladybug with his staff.

“Let’s see how useful those goggles are after I take away your sight for good.” Blackout said.

“Ladybug!” Queen Bee yelled.

Taking a leaf straight out of Chat’s book, Queen Bee leapt in front of Ladybug to protect her, regardless of her own safety.

Queen Bee shouted in pain as the end of the cane hit her side, she then cried out as her vision went completely black, leaving her in total darkness.

Blackout tried to attack Ladybug a second time but the heroine had already recovered from her trip and kicked him away.

Ladybug looked at Queen Bee in shock, she hadn’t expected such a selfless act from her, it made her question what Queen Bee was really like. Don’t get her wrong, she was still angry about Queen Bee causing an Akuma, but she was beginning to believe that Queen Bee had changed.

Ladybug grabbed Queen Bee, who was walking very slowly with her arms in front of her to stop herself from bumping into something, and dragged her over to Chat.

“Queen Bee’s been blinded too, be careful.” Ladybug said.

Ladybug then went to engage Blackout.

Chat Noir and Queen Bee were left on the side-lines while Ladybug fought Blackout, feeling very useless.

“Being blind sucks.” Queen Bee complained.

“I know.” Chat said. “Even with my animal-like senses it’s hard for me to judge where things are.”

“Wait, animal. That just might be it.” Queen Bee said, coming up with an idea. “Do you know if bees can see in the dark?”

“Considering you couldn’t without the goggles, I’m going to answer, no.” Chat said.

“Oh.” Queen Bee said, slightly crestfallen. “Well, it’s worth a shot anyway.”

Spinning her trompo blind wasn’t as difficult as Queen Bee had predicted, probably due to magic, but it was still tricky. But she eventually managed to spin her trompo and hold it in her hand above her.

“Queen’s Call!” She called.

The swarm of bees emerged from her weapon and she felt the instant connection. Like Chat had predicted, Queen Bee couldn’t see anything through them, but she could feel. Her swarm of bees spread out around the area and each of them picked up the feeling of movement through the air that Ladybug and Blackout were making, transmitting it back to Queen Bee. Through the feeling of movement, Queen Bee was given a rough idea of where Ladybug and Blackout were, she couldn’t see in detail but the humming of something cutting through the air told her which of the movements she was feeling was Ladybug.

Queen Bee removed her goggles and threw her trompo, managing to hit Blackout as she leapt back into battle. The sudden shift in movement caused her confusion as she tried to work where everything was and sort through the information her bees were sending her, but she eventually managed to focus again.

“Queen Bee?” Ladybug questioned. “Aren’t you blind?”

“My bees are helping me to see, but it’s hard to focus on the movement.” Queen Bee answered.

“Okay.” Ladybug said.

Ladybug decided it was time to end the fight and use her Lucky Charm.

“Lucky Charm!” She called

The object materialised above her and she caught it. It was a bottle, the lid telling what sort of contents was inside.

“Washing-up liquid?” Ladybug questioned.

It was hard for her to use her vision with the night vision goggles, put she eventually picked up the ground, Blackout’s feet, Queen Bee’s trompo, her yoyo and the bottle of washing-up liquid flashing. She then worked out how to use the objects.

Ladybug squirted the washing-up liquid on the ground in front of Blackout.

“Queen Bee, hit him from behind!” She the shouted.

Queen Bee was still in front of Blackout but threw her trompo anyway, it went passed the villain but by some luck it bounced off a wall and knocked into Blackout. Blackout stumbled forward to regain his footing but slipped on the washing-up liquid and fell over, he used both hands to break his fall but let go of his cane in the process. Ladybug used her yoyo to lasso the cane and pull it over to her, she caught it and broke it over her knee.

The Akuma fluttered out and Ladybug caught it, purifying and then releasing it.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” She called out as she threw her Lucky Charm into the air.

The darkness over Paris was lifted and those who had been made blind had their sights returned, everyone who had previously been in darkness also had to shield their eyes from the sudden onslaught of light. Queen Bee and Chat Noir sighting relief but then winced at the sudden light as their vision returned.

Once the heroes had managed to get used to the light, Ladybug went over to Queen Bee.

“Meeting on the roofs, now!” Ladybug said to Queen Bee.

Both Ladybug and Queen Bee were on four minutes left, but that didn’t concern them at the moment.

The three heroes climbed onto the rooftops until they found a flat roof to talk on.

“I am still angry about you causing Babydoll.” Ladybug said to Queen Bee. “And I don’t think I can trust you anytime soon. That being said, I’m glad you came to help out, we wouldn’t have won without you.”

“It was brave of you to come despite what you did.” Chat agreed.

“Thanks.” Queen Bee said. “But don’t worry, you’re not going to see me again after today.”

“What do you mean?” Ladybug asked.

“My Miraculous was meant for someone else but I ended up with it instead, after what I’ve done my Kwami told me to give my Miraculous to its intended owner.” Queen Bee answered.

“I see. And you’re fine with that?”

“Well, like you said, you’re not likely to trust me soon, so you’ll probably work better with the person the Miraculous was intended for.” Queen Bee said, heaviness in her voice.

Truthfully, she didn’t want to give up Queen Bee, but she had to accept that things would be better if Sabrina became the new Bee holder.

Queen Bee’s Miraculous beeped, reminding her of the time she had left.

“I better go before I turn back.” She said. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad I got to fight alongside both of you.”

Queen Bee then ran off.

Ladybug and Chat Noir stared after her.

“Think this really is the last we’ve seen of her?” Chat asked his partner.

“I don’t know.” Ladybug answered truthfully.

Ladybug and Chat Noir then went their separate ways, Ladybug going home while Chat went back to comfort the previously Akumatised victim since his timer wasn’t running out.

* * *

 

When Queen Bee reached her room she de-transformed back into Chloe, who was looking better than she had in a while. Chloe then pulled out some honey fudge and gave it to Philla who quickly ate it.

“I suppose you’re ready to go to Sabrina now?” Chloe asked once Philla had finished eating.

“Yes.” Philla answered.

Chloe went to remove the comb in her hair and put it back in the box but was stopped by Philla.

“You can keep it in for now.” The Kwami said. “I prefer to stay out of it. Besides, you’ll probably have a better time talking to Sabrina if I’m there to speak to her as well.”

“Okay.” Chloe said with a shrug.

Chloe grabbed her bag and Philla flew into it, she then left to find her former friend.

It took a bit of tracking down, but Chloe eventually found Sabrina walking around some shops.

“Sabrina.” She said. “I need to talk to you.”

“That’s funny.” Sabrina said. “Because I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Please, it’s important.”

“You’re just saying that because you’ve realised how much you depended on me being your lackey.”

“No, it’s fine if you don’t want to be my friend again. But I need to talk to you about a rather big bee.” Chloe tried to drop the hint as subtly as possible.

Sabrina frowned but followed Chloe to an empty alleyway.

“What do you want?” Sabrina asked. “And I thought you had your Miraculous taken away from you.”

“She was meant to, but the Guardian never showed up.” Philla said, flying out of Chloe’s bag.

“But now, I’m giving the Miraculous back to the person this Guardian guy intended it for.” Chloe said.

“What?” Sabrina questioned, not believing what she was hearing.

Chloe took the comb out of her hair and handed it to Sabrina.

“You deserve it more than I do.” Chloe said.

“I don’t understand.” Sabrina said. “You’re giving up being Queen Bee?”

Chloe nodded.

“But what about today?” Sabrina asked, having heard about Queen Bee’s ‘return’.

“That’s because she was the best option at the time.” Philla answered. “She might not have gotten the Miraculous to you in time or you might not have been able to do something because of your inexperience. By the way, can you put the comb in?”

Sabrina tried to put the comb in but her hair was too short for any style that required a comb.

“Here, let me.” Chloe said.

Chloe took the comb from Sabrina’s hand and managed to fit it into Sabrina’s hair.

“There.” Chloe said, stepping back.

“Uh, thanks.” Sabrina said unsurely.

“Good luck with being the new hero.” Chloe said awkwardly, walking away.

“I can’t believe she would just give up the comb.” Sabrina said to Philla.

“I know, she’s actually being responsible for once.” Philla agreed. “Do you want to test out the Miraculous?”

“When I’m at home.” Sabrina answered.

Phila flew into Sabrina’s bag, who then walked out of the alleyway and went home, her thoughts in turmoil. From a short distance Chloe watched Sabrina walking off and gave a heavy sigh before heading home herself.


	5. Fresh start

Sabrina took a deep breath as she stood in her room, Bee Miraculous in her hair and Philla in front of her. She had decided to wait until both her parents were out of the house before transforming for the first time in case they entered her room and found out the truth.

“Okay.” Sabrina said, preparing herself. “Philla, Sting Sharp!”

Philla was sucked into the Miraculous and Sabrina transformed in a wave of glowing yellow petals, once it was done she looked at herself in her mirror.

Sabrina looked different to how Chloe had as Queen Bee. Her mask was half yellow and half black with the black half being on top and pointing down towards the nose at the centre, her glasses were gone, and her hairband had turned black with two antennae sticking out of it. Her costume consisted of a black leotard with yellow sleeves covered by a sleeveless, high-collared jacket that ended above her belly at the front but just above the middle of her legs at the back in a point, black arm and leg guards, yellow costume covering her legs, yellow gloves with black spots on each of the knuckles, and yellow shoes that were black at the heel and went under the leg guards. Her jacket had one large black, pointed stripe over her chest that met the bottom of the collar and a smaller black stripe that was in-between the large stripe and the bottom of the jacket, and the bottom of the jacket at the back was tipped with black. The only thing that remained the same from Queen Bee was the hip purse containing her weapon.

“This is strange.” Sabrina said, looking herself over.

Sabrina opened up her hip purse and pulled out her trompo.

“Okay, let’s see if I can do this.” She said.

Sabrina threw the trompo to the floor but forgot to keep hold of the string, causing the weapon to thump uselessly to the floor instead of spinning.

“Okay, let’s try that again.” Sabrina said.

This time Sabrina remembered to keep hold of the rope when she threw her trompo and succeeded in making it spin. She smiled as it spun around her room, right up until it started breaking her belongings when it knocked into them, making her really glad her parents weren’t home because of the noise. She attempted to pick the trompo up before remembering what happened the last time she tried that, so she did what Chloe had done and dangled the string on the ground, the trompo wrapped itself in the string and smacked into her palm.

“I’m sure I can fix this.” Sabrina said as she looked at the damage done to her room.

Sabrina decided to put the trompo back away in her hip purse.

Sabrina then looked towards the window and wondered if she should try her hand at running across the rooftops like Queen Bee had. She ultimately decided against it, she didn’t want to draw attention to herself until she had to with the next Akuma attack.

With nothing left to do, Sabrina decided to de-transform.

“Sting Sheathed.” She said.

“Are you alright?” Philla asked Sabrina when she emerged from the Miraculous.

“Yes, just new to it all.” Sabrina said. “Now, to fix my room.”

* * *

 

The next day was a college day and Sabrina went to college on her own like she’d been doing for the past few weeks, except she now had Philla resting in her bag with her.

“I like what you’ve done with your hair.” Rose said when she saw Sabrina.

In order to keep her hair comb in, Sabrina no longer wore her usual bob hairstyle.

“Thanks.” Sabrina said.

“Isn’t that the same comb Chloe was wearing a few weeks ago?” Max noticed.

“Uh, she gave it to me.” Sabrina answered.

“Statistics of Chloe’s personality, combined with you no longer being friends, shows that is unlikely.” Max said.

“She gave it to me a while ago, I’m just now wearing it.” Sabrina lied, walking past Max and into the classroom.

When Sabrina entered the classroom, she made to go to her new desk placement when she noticed Chloe sitting where she usually did, Chloe’s hair was down instead of its usual ponytail and her head was down, like it was too heavy for her to keep up, Sabrina could just see Chloe’s depressed-looking face.

‘Don’t do it.’ Sabrina’s voice of reason whispered to her. ‘You know it will only go back to the way it was if you do.’

‘I won’t let that happen.’ Sabrina thought to herself.

Sabrina went over to her old seat and sat instead.

Inside of Sabrina’s bag, Philla sighed and shook her head when she realised what Sabrina was doing, but knew she couldn’t stop her.

Chloe looked up at Sabrina, surprised at the other girl sitting next to her.

“Hi.” Chloe said.

“Hi.” Sabrina said shortly, not looking at Chloe.

Chloe got the message, Sabrina was willing to forgive her, but it was going to be a long journey to that point.

* * *

 

The Akuma attack came shortly before the end of lunch, announcing their arrival by flooding the streets with sea water a storey deep, forcing everyone to flee to the second and top floors of the buildings they were in. The Akumatised villain then appeared at the bow of a pirate ship that sailed through the streets, dressed like a pirate himself.

Sabrina had just been about to leave her home before she had seen the water coming and slammed the door, running up the stairs to escape the water.

“I guess this is it.” Sabrina said to Philla.

“Let’s go.” Philla said encouragingly.

“Philla, Sting Sharp!”

Once Sabrina was transformed, she opened her window and stared at the neighbouring rooftop, she knew that Queen Bee, and therefore herself, could get around by making herself lighter, but Sabrina had no idea how to do that.

“Maybe I need to think happy thoughts.” Sabrina joked to herself.

Sabrina took a deep breath and stood up onto her railing, she closed her eyes and willed herself to be lighter, and after a few attempts she eventually jumped. When she opened her eyes she laughed when she found herself in the air, just about to land on the roof, a much bigger jump than any normal human could achieve. Once she landed Sabrina ran in the in the direction of the pirate ship.

Sabrina arrived to find the pirate ship docked outside of the college, the students who had been trapped there when the streets flooded were being recruited to be part of the Akumatised villain’s crew, their clothes changing to pirate attire once they stepped aboard the ship. Thankfully, despite their outfit change, the students didn’t seem to be under the control of the pirate captain, only doing what he said out of fear of the consequences if they didn’t.

As gracefully as she could, Sabrina jumped onto the back of the pirate ship unnoticed as it began to sail through Paris again, this time with a crew, unlike the other students her costume didn’t change to a pirate-themed one, which Sabrina couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed in.

There were two thumps behind her and Sabrina quickly turned around, ready to defend herself, only to find Ladybug and Chat Noir there.

“I guess you’re Queen Bee’s replacement.” Ladybug said to Sabrina.

“Uh, yes.” Sabrina said, a little shy at talking to the heroes of Paris.

“Great.” Chat said. “What’s your name?”

“It’s, uh…” Sabrina trailed off.

She had forgotten to create a name for her hero-self, and she wasn’t going to use Queen Bee.

“It’s okay if you haven’t created one yet.” Ladybug said, understandingly.

“We’ll just call you Bee until you come up with one.” Chat offered.

“That sound’s good.” Sabrina, now Bee, said relieved.

“Now, to deal with Captain Cut-throat.” Ladybug said.

Bee shivered at learning the villain’s name.

“The students don’t seem to be under his control.” Bee spoke up.

“That’s good, it means we don’t have to fight them.” Ladybug sounded relieved.

Looking at Chat, Bee could tell he was also relieved at not having to fight the students.

“So, what’s the plan?” Chat asked Ladybug. “And I hope it doesn’t involve going in the water, you know how much cats hate getting wet.”

"Captain doesn’t know about Bee yet, so we could use that to our advantage.” Ladybug said. “But he does know about Queen Bee and could get suspicious that she isn’t here, making him look for Bee and losing the element of surprise. So, that plan’s out.”

“How about I get the students off the ship and out of danger?” Bee offered, she wanted to avoid conflict until she had better experience as much as she could.

“Good idea.” Chat said. “While you do that, we can take on Captain Cut-throat.”

Ladybug nodded in agreement.

Ladybug and Chat Noir ran to the front of the ship while Bee remain behind to find a way off the ship for the students.

“Captain, this be a mutiny!” Chat shouted to Captain Cut-throat as he and Ladybug arrived at the front of the ship.

“Mutinous dogs, on my ship?” Captain Cut-throat demanded.

Ladybug and Chat Noir engaged the villain while Bee looked around for a way off of the ship that didn’t involve jumping into the water. She eventually came up with a plan, but it would involve steering the ship towards the Louvre and then stopping the ship, which would involve her needing to be at the front of the ship where Captain Cut-throat would see her.

Thankfully, she spotted some of her classmates, who had moved to the back of the ship to avoid the fighting, and got an idea. Their eyes widened when they spotted her, and she put a finger to her lips to tell them to be quiet.

“Who are you, where’s Queen Bee?” One of the students asked quietly.

“I’ve been given her place for reasons I can’t explain to you.” Bee said shyly. “But I need some help.”

“What do you need us to do?” Another student asked.

“I need to get to the steering wheel but I can’t let Captain Cut-throat see me, so I need some clothes to cover up my costume.”

The students managed to give Bee enough clothes to hide her costume and make her seem like one of the crew, one of them provided a long coat to hide her costume while another gave her a hat that hid her mask when she lowered her head.

“Stay here until I make a way off the ship for you.” Bee told the students.

Bee snuck out to the front of the ship and climbed up until she reached the steering wheel, she then started guiding the ship to the Louvre. As she steered she watched the fight between Ladybug and Chat Noir and Captain Cut-throat, who took their fight into the masts. Under her disguise as one of the crew, Captain Cut-throat took no notice of Bee.

They eventually arrived at the Louvre, which left Bee in the tricky situation of trying to pull the ship right alongside the building, she eventually managed but she bumped the ship into the Louvre pyramid and the building itself more than a couple of times.

“What are you doing down there, you swine?” Captain Cut-throat shouted down at Bee, who tensed up. “If you cause any damage to my ship you’ll walk the plank!”

Bee let out a quiet sigh of relief, Captain Cut-throat believed her to be one of his crew.

“Yes, Captain!” Bee meakly called up at him, being careful not to show her face.

Once the ship was alongside the building, Bee abandoned the wheel and ran over to where the anchor was, dropping it into the water to stop the ship from moving any further.

“What? I gave no order to dock!” Captain Cut-throat yelled.

Captain Cut-throat jumped down to confront what he believed to be a wayward crew member.

“You’ll walk the plank for this.” He said.

Deciding there was no use it pretending anymore, Bee threw off the coat and hat hiding her identity from the villain. Bee used Captain Cut-throat’s shock to ready her trompo for attack while Ladybug and Chat jumped down from the sails to join her. The villain quickly got over her shock and attacked the three heroes.

As they fought Bee couldn’t help but feel like she was being a load, her inexperience in fighting was leading to Ladybug and Chat protecting her from attacks as well as fighting the villain, and she hadn’t fired off her weapon because she was waiting for the right moment, meaning she wasn’t attacking either.

Bee finally saw her chance and launched her trompo, it zoomed past Captain Cut-throat and smashed into the tallest mast of the ship, causing the mast to break and tip over, falling onto the roof of the Louvre. Bee smiled at the makeshift bridge she had created.

“No, me ship!” Captain Cut-throat cried out. “You’ll pay for that!”

“Get the students off the ship, we’ll deal with Captain Cut-throat.” Ladybug told Bee.

Bee nodded and retreated from the fight, running over to where the students were hiding.

“Quick, across the mast.” Bee told the students.

The students unsurely went over to the mast and began walking across it, being careful not to lose their balance, Bee helping some of them across. Eventually, all of the students were off the ship and on the top of the Louvre. With the students safe, Bee lifted up the anchor and the ship began to drift away from the building, the mast dropping into the water with the building no longer supporting it.

Bee joined Ladybug and Chat Noir in fighting Captain Cut-throat, with the students out of harm’s way they could not be more open with their attacks without worrying about hurting civilians. Like Queen Bee before her, Bee quickly began to get used to her new powers and abilities, able to dodge attacks more easily and aim her trompo better.

With a kick from Chat, Captain Cut-throat fell from one of the smaller masts they had been fighting on to the deck bellow, next to where Bee was standing, he clutched his arm and cried out in pain.

“Oh, are you alright?” Bee asked worriedly, momentarily forgetting Captain Cut-throat was a villain and leaning down to check on him.

But Captain Cut-throat had been faking his injury and grabbed Bee, holding the new hero to his chest and placing his cutlass at her neck.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug called, the object materialising above her and falling into her hands.

“Not one more move or she gets a one-way trip to Davy Joan’s locker.” Captain Cut-throat threatened, bringing the blade closer to Bee’s neck.

Ladybug looked around for the things needed for her Lucky Charm and found them, but she needed Bee out of the way first.

Meanwhile, Bee decided she had had enough, she was far from helpless, her dad was the chief of police and had taught her a few self-defence moves for if she found herself grabbed. Though, she doubted this was the sort of thing he had in mind to defend herself against.

Bee raised her foot and brought it down hard on Captain Cut-throat’s foot while also slamming her head back to smash into his face, it worked and he released her to cradle his injuries. Bee quickly dove away and Ladybug saw her chance, using her Lucky Charm and the objects in tandem against the villain. It eventually ended with Captain Cut-throat dangling upside down from one of the ship’s masts.

Ladybug grabbed the possessed object and broke it, freeing the Akuma, which she then purified.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” She called out as she threw her Lucky Charm into the air.

The object exploded into millions of ladybugs that swept through the city, getting rid of the sea water as if it was never there in the first place, reverting the students back to their normal clothes and getting rid of the pirate ship, dropping off the heroes and the de-Akumatised Captain Cut-throat on the street below.

Bee went over to the man and helped him to stand, the man was still dressed in a pirate costume but this one was noticeably from a costume store.

“What’s going on?” The man asked. “Did I…?”

Bee nodded while giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Ladybug asked as she came over as well, handing the man his repaired object.

“Yeah.” The man said. “This place I worked at where I had a pirate act shut down because of budgeting issues, I remember getting angry and upset about having to find a new job to support my family, I guess Hawkmoth heard me.”

“It’s okay, you didn’t want to be Akumatised.” Bee said gently.

“She’s right, all fault lies with Hawkmoth.” Ladybug agreed.

“Thank you.” The man said.

Ladybug eventually had to leave because of her Miraculous running out of time, leaving Chat and Bee to wait with the man until paramedics arrived to take care of him.

“Sorry about getting in the way.” Bee said once the paramedics took the man away to look over him. “I should have known he was faking being injured.”

“It’s okay.” Chat told her. “It’s good that you care about people. And you’ll get better with time.”

“I hope so. I felt like I was just getting in the way today.”

“You helped out, Ladybug and I couldn’t have saved those students and defeated the Akuma without you.”

“So, you don’t want Queen Bee back instead of me then?” Bee asked.

“No way. You’re already much better than her, much sweeter for one thing. Hey, I think I have a name for you.” Chat said.

“What?”

“Sweet Bee.”

“Sweet Bee?” Bee tested out the name. “I like it.”

The news reporters then arrived, very interested in the new hero who’d shown up with the same theme as Queen Bee. Sweet Bee didn’t like all of the sudden attention on her however and hid behind Chat.

“Chat Noir, who is the new hero?” A reporter asked.

“This is Sweet Bee.” Chat said, allowing Sweet Bee to continue hiding behind him. “Our new teammate.”

“What happened to Queen Bee, is Sweet Bee using her powers or do they share it?” Asked another reporter.

“Due to reasons we cannot reveal, Queen Bee has turned her powers over to Sweet Bee.” Chat answered.

“Can we get a few words from Sweet Bee?”

Chat looked behind him to look at Sweet Bee and saw how uncomfortable she was.

“Sorry, but we’ve got to be getting home.” He said.

He then grabbed Sweet Bee’s arm and they ran off, once they were away from the reporters they went their separate ways.

Sweet Bee jumped behind a post box and changed back to Sabrina when she was sure no one was looking, she then held out her hands to catch a tired Philla.

“Are you alright?” Sabrina asked her Kwami as she walked back to college.

“I’m just hungry, Kwamis need to be fed to keep up our power.” Philla answered.

“Oh, I don’t have anything with me, I guess I’ll have to be late to class to get you something then.” Sabrina said.

“No, it’s okay.” Philla answered. “You didn’t use your special power so I’m not that tired or hungry.”

“Well, if you’re sure.” Sabrina said.

When Sabrina arrived at college she found Chloe waiting at the steps, looking a bit impatient, when Chloe spotted her she walked over.

“Here.” Chloe said, handing Sabrina something. “Philla likes these best.”

Chloe then turned around and walked back to class.

Sabrina looked down at her hand and saw that she had been given a large pack of honey fudge. Sabrina smiled slightly as she opened up the packet and took out a piece, handing it to Philla and putting the rest in her bag before hurrying to class.

* * *

 

Over the next few weeks in became clear to the citizens of Paris that while Sweet Bee possessed the same powers and abilities of Queen Bee, she was nothing like her processor. While Queen Bee had rushed into situations and tried to take lead, Sweet Bee stayed back and always did what Ladybug and Chat Noir told her to do, sometimes even needing instructions as to what to do instead of acting on her own, she was definitely more of a worker bee than a queen bee, which did make her more reliable than Queen Bee had been. Sweet Bee was also, for lack of a better term, nicer than Queen Bee had been, concerned over the safety of other and making sure they were okay, but this led to her going light on some villains out of fear of hurting them, whereas Queen Bee would have just mowed down any villain with no sympathy. Sweet Bee also didn’t fit the usual mould for heroes personality wise, the other three had all acted confident and strong, like people you don’t want to mess with, and while Sweet Bee had grown in strength she was still as shy as she had started off as, not speaking out against the Akumatised villains and attempting to hide behind Ladybug and Chat Noir when reporters of large crowds showed up.

Like Queen Bee, the opinion over Sweet Bee was split, but not in the same way. Some viewed her as being too meek and unassuming to be a hero, and that she didn’t put her all into fighting like she should, a lot of these people were also fans of Queen Bee and were saying the former hero should claim her powers back. Others loved Sweet Bee’s shy personality, finding it cute and supporting her being a hero despite obviously not liking the spotlight, also defending that Sweet Bee still did her part fighting villains and did her best to help civilians, a lot of these people were fanboys and fangirls who were relating Sweet Bee to the character in shows they watched that they loved.

“I didn’t realise this would be so exhausting.” Sabrina claimed as she flopped down onto her bed. “And how much my life would get eaten up, I’ve just missed the last half of classes, mum and dad aren’t going to be happy.”

“I know, but it’s Hawkmoth who chooses to attack in the middle of a school day.” Philla said, munching on some honey fudge.

“You’re running out, I’m going to have to get some more.” Sabrina observed as she looked at the packet of honey fudge. “But I doubt I can get that high-quality stuff Chloe gave you.”

Sabrina got up and looked around her room, she then groaned as she looked around her room and realised something.

“I left my bag at college.” She groaned.

Sabrina sighed and walked out her room, intending to head back to college, but when she opened her front door she was surprised to see Chloe standing there.

“Here.” Chloe said, holding up Sabrina’s bag. “Next time remember it.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Sabrina said, taking her bag.

Sabrina noticed her bag felt slightly heavier and looked inside, surprised to find not only another packet of honey fudge, but also notes for the class she missed. She looked at Chloe with surprised eyes.

“Miss Bustier said there was going to be a test, I didn’t think it’d be fair you got a low score because you had to save Paris.” Chloe said, folding her arms.

“Thank you.” Sabrina said gratefully.

Sabrina took a deep breath as she decided what to do.

“Would you like to come in.” She eventually asked.

Chloe looked surprised to be invited in.

“Sure.” She said, walking inside.

The two former friend’s time together was filled mostly with awkward silence, neither quite knowing what to say.

“So, how are you finding being Sweet Bee?” Chloe eventually asked.

“It’s alright.” Sabrina answered. “It’s taxing but I’m getting along fine.”

“Good, good.” Chloe said, nodding her head.

They once again descended into silence.

“How have things been for you?” Sabrina decided to ask.

“Not that great.” Chloe answered truthfully. “Without you or Adrien I realised how alone I am, I couldn’t make any friends because of how I’ve acted in the past. It was a real eye opener. And people won’t accept that I’m trying to change.”

“You are?” Sabrina asked.

“Yeah. I took a step back and realised what I’ve been doing wrong, I’ve tried to be nicer and not look down on people like before, but I still can’t make any friends.”

“I guess you really have changed.” Sabrina said.

“Yeah.” Chloe said, eyes downcast. “Well, I better go home.”

Sabrina walked Chloe to the door.

“How about we study for the test together?” Sabrina suggested before she could process what she was saying.

“Really?” Chloe asked hopefully.

“Yeah. It’s better to study with someone than alone.” Sabrina said.

Philla poked Sabrina’s shoulder, an expectant look on her face.

“But don’t expect me to pull all of the weight like I used to do.” Sabrina added.

Philla nodded.

“I won’t.” Chloe promised. “See you tomorrow?”

“Sure. Bye.” Sabrina said, closing the door.

“Are you sure getting close to her again is wise?” Philla asked.

“Probably not.” Sabrina answered. “But I figured she deserved a second chance. She really does seem like she’s sorry for what she did.”

Philla sighed, shaking her head at how soft-hearted her chosen was.

* * *

 

Slowly but surely, Sabrina and Chloe mended their broken friendship bond, spending more time together, with Philla making sure they wouldn’t fall back on old behaviours. It became Chloe’s job to cover for Sabrina when she was off fighting evil as Sweet Bee, creating excuses for her absence and writing down notes for her friend, which Chloe found she didn’t mind doing. Chloe also instructed Sabrina on how to be more confident as Sweet Bee, or at least put on a façade of being confident in front of others, which she stated would help people view her as a hero more and stop the villains from thinking she would be easy to take down. And she also instructed Sabrina to use her shyness to her advantage, tricking the villains into underestimating her before she showed how strong she really was, this was something that Philla surprisingly supported as it was something past Miraculous users had incorporated.

With their friendship repaired and their relationship no longer one of ‘bully and lackey’, both girls managed to flourish. Chloe was still hadn’t reached the best that she could, but she learned to not take everything personally and curb her urges to hurt someone when they did something she didn’t like. Sabrina was learning to be more confident and independent, to not rely on others telling her how to do things, she even managed to make a small-time friend outside of Chloe.

As Sweet Bee, Sabrina acted more confident and was able to make her own decisions without relying on Ladybug or Chat Noir, which helped public view of her. But the Akumas were still tough and caused her to start being late to, or even miss parts of class, which was becoming a problem despite how much Chloe covered for her.

“I don’t think I can take another night of no sleep before I crack.” Sabrina said as she lay down on Chloe’s bed.

“I remember that feeling.” Chloe said. “Though, it was lessened when I could just stay home from college and sleep if I wanted.”

“Well, I don’t get that luxury since my dad doesn’t have as much power.” Sabrina’s tiredness allowed her to snark.

“If only we could share the responsibilities.” Chloe joked.

“You wouldn’t be the first ones.” Philla unintentionally said.

That got the two girl’s attention, even Sabrina managed to momentarily forget her tiredness.

“We could do that?” Chloe asked.

Philla sighed, realising she’s have to explain otherwise the girls would keep bothering her about it.

“The Miraculous are usually intended for one person to use until it is passed on, constantly swapping make it difficult to use them to their full power because of the difference in person, but if two or more people are similar enough they can swap their Miraculous between them without it losing its power. If I remember correctly, the last time it happened was between four brothers with the Turtle Miraculous.” Philla explained.

“Could we do it?” Sabrina asked.

“I don’t know.” Philla answered. “The both of you are different, but since you repaired your friendship there’s a bond that could allow it to work.”

“Can we try?” Chloe asked in excitement.

“If it doesn’t work it will take a while for Sweet Bee to work at full strength.” Philla warned.

“Oh, I understand. I guess it would be hard for me to bond with you again anyway.” Chloe said.

Sabrina shook her head. “I want to try anyway.”

“Sabrina?” Chloe and Philla questioned.

“I can’t take this exhaustion anymore, and I’m missing out on class too much. If Chloe and I share we won’t have to deal with it so much.” Sabrina said.

“And if it causes a drain on the Miraculous’ powers?” Philla asked.

“I’ll just have to put up with it if it happens. But we have to try, otherwise we won’t know.”

Sabrina took out the comb and handed it to Chloe, who put it in her own hair with an unsure yet excited look on her face.

“I take it I’m dealing with the next Akuma attack?” Chloe said with a laugh.

Sabrina nodded, suddenly remembering her tiredness and going over to Chloe’s bed to take a nap.

* * *

 

The return of Queen Bee caused quite a storm with the next Akuma attack, some citizens of Paris welcoming her back while others saying Sweet Bee should have stayed, not yet realising Queen Bee and Sweet Bee would be trading places often. Queen Bee explained the situation to Ladybug and Chat Noir who begrudgingly excepted it, with Ladybug slightly envious she couldn’t do the same considering how little sleep she got and classes she missed herself because of Akuma attacks

Over the next few weeks it became clear to the people of Paris that Queen Bee and Sweet Bee would be frequently taking turns to protect Paris, which sparked an internet war between the supporters of Queen Bee and the supporters of Sweet Bee, constantly fighting over which bee-hero was better, who would win in a fight, etc. Ladybug and Chat Noir also became more comfortable around Queen Bee again, though it would probably never go back to how they were before what Queen Bee did, they no longer felt hostile towards her and could work beside her with no problem.

Despite Philla’s warnings, the power levels of the Bee Miraculous seemed to stay the same despite Chloe and Sabrina’s constant switching, showing that they had a strong enough bond that the Miraculous counted them as similar enough. Allowing both Queen Bee and Sweet Bee to exist. This took a lot of weight off both of the girls, allowing them to balance their normal lives and hero lives better when they were able to get more sleep and were more constant to class than if it just been one of them being the bee-hero.

Unknown to Chloe and Philla, Master Fu had returned from his trip just after Sabrina had been given back the Bee Miraculous and learned of what Chloe had done, but he had also seen what Chloe had been through after what she did and the effort she went through to make up for what she did. So, when Sabrina and Chloe began sharing the Bee Miraculous, he didn’t do anything to stop it.


End file.
